Memorial to Polish hero of American Revolution will return to Mall C: Michael K. McIntyre's Tipoff

Roadell Hickman/The Plain DealerOn the 250th birthday of General Casimir Pulaski in 1995, John Szuch of Seville laid a wreath at the memorial to Pulaski on Mall C. The memorial will return after the Medical Mart is built.

The monument honoring General Casimir Pulaski has dodged another cannonball.

The monument, featuring a cannon built in 1899 and known as a "Polish Rifle," will return to Mall C once construction of the Medical Mart and Convention Center is complete.

Gary Kotlarsic, chairman of the cultural and education committee of the Polish American Congress, was concerned that "Pulaski Plaza," which honors the American Revolutionary War hero, could be jeopardized by construction. It wouldn't be the first time.

The original "Pulaski Square" was dedicated in 1937 at East12th Street and Superior Ave.

It was to be eliminated in 1968 to make way for an apartment tower, sparking protests by the Polish community at City Hall. The monument was moved to Mall C and rededicated as "Pulaski Plaza" by then Mayor Carl B. Stokes.

Cleveland City Councilman Tony Brancatelli, who serves on the city's Landmarks Commission, brought the issue to his commission colleagues after Kotlarsic shared his concerns. The commission voted last month to require that Medical Mart developers MMPI preserve the cannon, plaques and plaza and restore them to Mall C after demolition and construction.

The monument will return in 2013, Brancatelli said, continuing to honor the Warsaw-native war hero who was made an honorary U.S. Citizen by a vote of Congress in 2009 after U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced a bill.

Kotlarsic said the Polish community is relieved: "It's a gift from our ancestors," he said.

Roll film: Cleveland Cinemetheque Director John Ewing said it had been years since he'd thought about "Double Stop," a nearly forgotton 1968 film shot during the

When asked during a Plain Dealer interview which film he'd most like to show, he remembered "Double Stop." Ewing, who has seen everything, hadn't seen this film, only read about it.

The question prompted him to look for it again. (He'd tried in the pre-Internet era to no avail.)

This time, he found the writer director, ex-Clevelander Gerald Sindell, now in San Francisco, who said he still has two prints.

Showtime!

Sindell, who was 23 when he made the film, his wife and his brother Roger, who co-wrote and produced the film, will come to Cleveland for a special showing Sunday, Feb. 20 at 2:30 p.m.

The film is an earnest plea for harmony and tolerance in a racially polarized city. Filmed with Cleveland actors on locations in Shaker Heights, Bratenahl, and University Circle, it includes scenes in Severance Hall, where the Cleveland Orchestra was hired for two days of shooting.

The film won the Atlanta Film Festival's Silver Phoenix award for "World's Best Feature Motion Picture" and was shown at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the New Directors series. It was never released on video or DVD.

Two of the film's actors, Bill Kurtz and Patti Fairchild (mother of Fox 8 News anchor Stefani Schaefer) also are scheduled to attend the screening.

The reviews are in: New Cuyahoga County Council President C. Ellen Connally is a bookworm. And an opinionated one. She has contributed 168 reviews to Amazon.com under the name Cecelia E. Connally.

She didn't like Jonathan Franzen's "Freedom," an Oprah Book Club pick: "After 66 pages, I just gave up on this book. It makes no sense. Maybe I'm just stupid, but don't bother." She also doesn't like Oprah Winfrey much after reading Kitty Kelly's biography of the media maven. "Her image has sunk to a new low in my book." She's got wide-ranging interests, especially in non-fiction books about political figures throughout history.

Those closely following the new council's first moves might suggest a new volume for Connally to review. It's called "Sunshine Laws Manual" and it can be downloaded from the Ohio attorney general's Web site.

Court courtship: Cleveland lawyers Kami Davis Rowles and Jeffrey Brauer, a partner at the Hahn Loeser firm, tied the knot this week in the courtroom of Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy J. McGinty. The two met there in 2007 when they were on the opposite sides of a civil trial.

Said McGinty: "I knew they were getting along a little too well for lawyers in a heated trial, but I never suspected it would lead to this."

The judge reported that there was "not a single objection" as they made their vows.

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